New guideline on coal mine safety released

China's State Council released a guideline on strengthening coal mine production safety on the central government's website Saturday, planning to shut down more than 2,000 low-output coal mines before the end of 2015.

The guideline urged the speeding up of closures of small coal mines with poor performances, especially coal mines with annual output lower than 90,000 tons and poor safety conditions.

With financial support from local governments to regions dependent on how effectively they implement the coal mine shutdown plan, more than 2,000 small coal mines will likely be shut down before the end of 2015, according to the guideline.

The guideline introduced a more stringent entry standard for coal mines including ceasing the approval of coal mines with annual production lower than 300,000 tons, and coal mines with probable gas explosion risk and lower than 900,000 tons in annual output.